MRO Today - The people's choice

Sharon Hudson
MRO inventory analyst, Tropicana

Working with the finance department at Tropicana’s site in Jersey City, Sharon developed a cycle count procedure for more than 7,000 parts currently stored in two main storerooms. She has all but eliminated stockouts within plant maintenance, which has contributed to 98 percent equipment uptime.

“Zero downtime is the ultimate goal,” she says.

Sharon reduced the plant’s overall MRO carrying cost by more than $60,000 and streamlined the purchasing process by mastering SAP and Oracle. She continues to reduce cost by routinely purchasing stock and non-stock items from a select database of suppliers with national account status. The six-year Tropicana employee also strives for personal development as an active member of APICS-The Educational Society for Resource Management. She is working to achieve her Certified in Production and Inventory Management certification.

“There are 180 people at this plant,” she says. “We don’t have an abundance of employees, so we all have to wear many hats. I came here as an inventory analyst, but with each year comes additional responsibilities.”